No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly.

Pictures must not be too picturesque.

The label ‚liberal‘ or ‚conservative,‘ any – every time I hear that, I think of the great Gilbert and Sullivan song from ‚Iolanthe.‘ It goes, ‚Every gal and every boy that’s born alive is either a little liberal or else a little conservative.‘ What do those labels mean? It depends on whose ox is being gored.

If I think more about death than some other people, it is probably because I love life more than they do.

Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.

Let us beware of saying that death is the opposite of life. The living being is only a species of the dead, and a very rare species.

I think that cancer is a life form that exists out there, and it exists in us. I think even the concept of healing is a spiritual principle that we have to really look at. I think the word itself is something we ought to get rid of, because it implies that there is illness – that there is something wrong.

For people who may think they know, or have snippets of who I am, you can attack that person. That’s part of being a public figure.

On a spiritual level, it’s as though with my sighted eye I see what’s before me, and with my unsighted eye I see what’s hidden. It’s illuminated life more than darkened it.

I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.

I have nothing to ask but that you would remove to the other side, that you may not, by intercepting the sunshine, take from me what you cannot give.

Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better.

Judgements prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances.

If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.

How people themselves perceive what they are doing is not a question that interests me.

I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.

Life is a series of commas, not periods.

Fear of death increases in exact proportion to increase in wealth.

I think the word rich is all relative.

I think there is a lot made out of age, and what age you feel.

I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of Beauty.

I think we have to own the fears that we have of each other, and then, in some practical way, some daily way, figure out how to see people differently than the way we were brought up to.

No finite point has meaning without an infinite reference point.

Tell the truth, but tell it slant.

I always have an optimistic view, no matter what it is.

Like a pianist runs her fingers over the keys, I’ll search my mind for what to say. Now, the poem may want you to write it. And then sometimes you see a situation and think, ‚I’d like to write about that.‘ Those are two different ways of being approached by a poem, or approaching a poem.

A man may imagine things that are false, but he can only understand things that are true, for if the things be false, the apprehension of them is not understanding.

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.

It is the heart always that sees, before the head can see.

Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is because we are not the person involved.

How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.

If you desire many things, many things will seem few.

I think I hate cynicism more than anything else. It’s the curse of our age, and I want to avoid it at all costs.

I would rather be able to appreciate things I can not have than to have things I am not able to appreciate.

Many a man’s reputation would not know his character if they met on the street.

For me, money is not my definition of success. Inspiring people is a definition of success.

My sorrow, when she’s here with me, thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare, the withered tree; she walks the sodden pasture lane.

Stylistically, I love make-up. I love doing my own make-up and stuff, but clothes-wise, I actually didn’t ever really care. Initially the fashion world was more interested in me than the music world, which was strange when I first started singing.

Happiness is within the reach of everyone, rich or poor. Yet comparatively few people are happy. I believe the reason for this is that the majority don’t recognize happiness even when it is within their grasp.

Seeing is not always believing.

I wear make-up, and it gets a little bit thicker every year.

I never gave anybody hell! I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.

Here ends my forever memorable first High Sierra excursion. I have crossed the Range of Light, surely the brightest and best of all the Lord has built. And, rejoicing in its glory, I gladly, gratefully, hopefully pray I may see it again.

Of all the senses, sight must be the most delightful.

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

Our life is what our thoughts make it.

It seems the older you get, the more life comes into focus.

Lo! The poor Indian, whose untutored mind sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind.

Keep in mind that no matter how perfectly you get your life in order, you will never be rid of all your problems. Problems are a way of life, always have been, always will be. But how you elect to view those problems is all up to you.

It is understanding that gives us an ability to have peace. When we understand the other fellow’s viewpoint, and he understands ours, then we can sit down and work out our differences.

When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war.

Old men are dangerous: it doesn’t matter to them what is going to happen to the world.

It’s so much easier to pray for a bore than to go and see one.

I do not have much patience with a thing of beauty that must be explained to be understood. If it does need additional interpretation by someone other than the creator, then I question whether it has fulfilled its purpose.

Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator.

Everything’s fine today, that is our illusion.

Being beautiful is not so fun when you’re in a business with all men.

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

When I was a boy we didn’t wake up with Vietnam and have Cyprus for lunch and the Congo for dinner.

Beauty and femininity are ageless and can’t be contrived, and glamour, although the manufacturers won’t like this, cannot be manufactured. Not real glamour; it’s based on femininity.